DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11715#0101
CAIRO TO ASSOUAN.
the zodiacs which ornament the roof, being examined by the French savans, was sup-
posed to indicate an antiquity so great as to be incompatible with the Biblical narrative
of the Creation and the Flood. Learned and elaborate arguments were constructed to
prove that the Nile Valley must have been peopled by a highly-civilized race at a period
long anterior to the existence of man upon the earth, as recorded in tho book of Genesis.
But in their eager haste to disprove the authority of the Mosaic writings, the Egyptolo-
gists strangely overlooked the fact that the walls of the temple afford conclusive proof
REMAINS OP THE TEMPLE AT ABYDOS.
(From Photograph, by E. Frith.)
that, so far from going back to a mythical antiquity, it is scarcely older than the
Christian era, having been commenced by Cleopatra and not completed till the reign of
Nero.
The vast size, almost perfect preservation, and the sumptuous adornments ot the
temple make it very impressive. But it wants the severe and simple grandeur of the
older edifices. It is overloaded with ornament, not in the best taste, and is a formal
and florid imitation of the edifices of an earlier age. Sculptured upon the walls are
97
the zodiacs which ornament the roof, being examined by the French savans, was sup-
posed to indicate an antiquity so great as to be incompatible with the Biblical narrative
of the Creation and the Flood. Learned and elaborate arguments were constructed to
prove that the Nile Valley must have been peopled by a highly-civilized race at a period
long anterior to the existence of man upon the earth, as recorded in tho book of Genesis.
But in their eager haste to disprove the authority of the Mosaic writings, the Egyptolo-
gists strangely overlooked the fact that the walls of the temple afford conclusive proof
REMAINS OP THE TEMPLE AT ABYDOS.
(From Photograph, by E. Frith.)
that, so far from going back to a mythical antiquity, it is scarcely older than the
Christian era, having been commenced by Cleopatra and not completed till the reign of
Nero.
The vast size, almost perfect preservation, and the sumptuous adornments ot the
temple make it very impressive. But it wants the severe and simple grandeur of the
older edifices. It is overloaded with ornament, not in the best taste, and is a formal
and florid imitation of the edifices of an earlier age. Sculptured upon the walls are
97